In 1993 the establishment of district heating started in Mariestad, Sweden. To
develop the district heating network a new production system was needed. This
was the first step towards today's new combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The
only suitable location for the plant was in the middle of the community at Metsä
Tissue, the paper industrial plant, so the scheme would require their co-operation.
A feasibility study assessed that the best solution was to build a plant for both the
community district heating and the paper plant. This meant that the new plant had
to be able to supply steam which would give the opportunity to generate electricity
as well as heat. A new company was founded, Katrinefors Kraftvärme AB which is
owned jointly by Metsä Tissue and the local community owned utility MTEAB.